VISA VIOLATION PENALTY AND CALCULATION

Visa violation penalty is the penalty applied as a result of staying in the country of destination for more than the visa period or acting out of purpose. For example; Staying in the country for 3 months for a person who has a 2-month visa will mean a visa violation. To give another example; The work of a person entering the country with a student visa is a violation.

Entering the country illegally is also a type of visa violation. It is known that a large number of people illegally entered Turkey from various Middle Eastern, Asian and African countries in recent years. When these people are detected, the procedure to be explained below is applied and a visa violation penalty is given.

Apart from exceeding the duration and purpose of the visa and entering the country illegally, residence permit and work permit can also be the subject of visa violation. Even though the work permit has expired, the employee, and the foreigners residing in Turkey despite the expiry of the residence permit, have also violated the visa.

The visa violation penalty and the procedure to be followed are different for 2022 from previous years. Significant changes have been made in the rules regarding the ban on entry to Turkey, especially in case of visa violations. We have updated our article accordingly. We have presented the current version of the issue by including the old regulation below. We recommend that you read carefully.

Visa Violation Penalty

The foreigner who violates the visa becomes a fugitive. In this case, the foreigner who violates the visa must pay a fee as a penalty. This penalty is calculated as twice the annual residence permit fee. Citizens of some countries are required to pay a visa fee in addition to this fee if they violate this rule.

From time to time, amnesty decisions may be issued for deported foreigners. However, as of 2022, there is no amnesty for now. The new regulation has brought very different provisions regarding the ban on entry to Turkey in case of visa violation. According to this;

• In some cases of visa violation, the foreigner cannot be given an entry ban decision.
• In some cases of visa violation, an entry ban decision is made for the foreigner between 1 month and 5 years.
• In some cases of visa violation, an entry ban decision is made between 3 months and 5 years.
• In some cases of visa violations, a kind of indefinite entry ban decision is made during the continuation of the case.

We will discuss the details of each of these cases separately. This change is very important. The classical visa violation penalty, which has been applied for a long time, has undergone significant changes in the past year and we receive a lot of questions about it.

Circumstances in which the Entry Ban to Turkey will not be Applied

In case of a visa violation, those who leave the country in the following cases;

• If the visa violation period is less than 3 months, if the foreigner comes to the border gate by himself and pays the administrative fine, that is, the visa violation penalty, without the detection of this violation by the competent authorities, a decision to ban entry into Turkey cannot be taken.
• In case the visa violation period is less than 3 months, this violation is detected by the competent authorities and a deport decision is taken against the foreigner, if the foreigner arrives at the border gate and pays the visa violation penalty within the period of departure from the country granted to the foreigner, an entry ban decision cannot be taken against him.

Conditions to be Entry Ban to Turkey Between 1 Month and 5 Years

In case of a visa violation, leaving the country in the following state;

• If the duration of the visa violation is 3 months or more, if the foreigner comes to the border gate by himself without the detection of this violation by the competent authorities and pays the administrative fine, that is, the visa violation penalty, an entry ban to Turkey will be applied between 1 month and 5 years.

In this case, the duration of the ban on entry to Turkey is determined according to the duration of the violation. We can make a table as follows:

	Entry Ban Period to Turkey
3 – 6 month  visa violation	1 month
6 ay – 1 years visa violation	3 month
1 – 2 years visa violation	1 year
2 – 3 years visa violation	2 years
3 years and over visa violation	5 years

Conditions to be Entry Ban to Turkey Between 3 Months and 5 Years

In case of a visa violation, those who leave the country or for whom a deportation decision has been taken;

• Foreigners who came to the border gate to leave Turkey before the visa violation was detected by the authorities but did not pay the visa violation penalty
• The foreigner who violates a visa for less than 3 months and is invited to leave with a deport decision, does not leave the country within the time allowed and does not pay the visa violation penalty.
• The foreigner who violates a visa for more than 3 months and is invited to leave after a deport decision does not leave the country within the time allowed (in this case, an entry ban to Turkey is applied regardless of whether the visa violation penalty is paid or not)
• The foreigner does not leave the country within the time allowed by the authorities even though his/her residence permit or work permit request is rejected or his current residence permit or work permit has been cancelled (in this case, the entry ban to Turkey is applied regardless of whether an administrative fine is paid or not)
• Foreigners who do not apply for a residence permit within 10 days of entering Turkey even though the scope of the 90-day rule within 180 days has expired (in this case, entry ban to Turkey is applied regardless of whether the visa violation penalty is paid or not)
• Foreigners who are subject to some alternative obligations after the expiration of the supervision obligation (in this case, an entry ban is applied regardless of whether an administrative fine is paid or not)
• Foreigners who are deported in the presence of on-duty personnel (in this case, an entry ban is applied regardless of whether an administrative fine is paid or not)

In this case, the duration of the ban on entry to Turkey is determined according to the duration of the violation. We can tabulate this as follows:

	Entry Ban Period to Turkey
0 – 3 month visa violation	3 months
3 – 6 month visa violation	6 months
6 – 1 year visa violation	1 year
1 – 2 years visa violation	2 years
2 years and over visa violation	5 years

Conditions for Implementing an Indefinite Entry Ban to Turkey

Even if the above-mentioned ban on entry to Turkey, which was given beforehand, has expired;

• Foreigners who do not pay the visa violation penalty or other administrative fines (any administrative fine) and other public receivables cannot enter Turkey unless they pay these penalties.

Visa Violation Penalty Calculation

You can learn the exact information about calculating the visa violation penalty from the border gates and the visa violation office at the airport.”

The amount of fine in case of visa violation may vary depending on the country of citizenship of the foreigner and the length of time he/she stays in the country illegally. Let’s explain the amount of penalty that must be paid with a few examples.

• Citizens of Azerbaijan can stay in Turkey for 30 days without a visa. A citizen of Azerbaijan, who has stayed in Turkey for a total of 8 months, will have spent the first month in accordance with his visa and the remaining 7 months as a fugitive. In this case, the amount to be paid by him; 50 USD (First month fee) + 60 USD (10 USD for each month after the first month) + Card fee.
• Georgian citizens can stay in Turkey for 90 days without a visa. A Georgian citizen who has stayed in Turkey for a total of 6 months means that he or she has stayed for 3 more months. The amount of penalty to be paid in such a case; It will be determined as 50 USD (First month fee) + 20 USD (10 USD for each month after the first month) + Card fee + Visa fee.
• Citizens of Uzbekistan can stay in Turkey for 30 days without a visa. A citizen of Uzbekistan, who stayed in Turkey for a total of 2 months, has stayed for an extra month. The amount to be paid by the citizen of Uzbekistan in this situation; 50 USD (First month fee) + Card fee + Visa fee.

Where is the Visa Violation Penalty Paid?

We said that foreigners who violate a visa should pay a certain amount of fine. This fine must be paid in order not to be deported. Visa violation penalty can be paid to the visa violation office located at the airports. In the old regulation, it was possible to re-enter the country immediately after leaving the country by signing a commitment to apply for a residence permit within 10 days after the payment. However, with the new regulation, the opportunity to enter Turkey is based on the rules we have explained above.

IMPORTANT!

As we always say, you should definitely seek advice from a lawyer on this matter. In case of missing documents, doing illegal work, incomplete declaration and payment of the fine, having a restriction code about the foreigner, making a procedural error in re-entry, making a mistake in applying for a residence permit after entering or missing the period, a deport decision can be applied for up to 5 years, that is, 5 years in Turkey. There may be an entry ban.

Visa Violation Office

The visa infringement office is the place where the penalty will be calculated and paid according to the length of stay and the country of citizenship. The visa infringement office is located at the airports. A foreigner who stays in Turkey illegally can go here and pay the fine.

When Can I Enter Turkey in Case of Visa Violation?

In case of a visa violation, when to enter Turkey varies according to the situation. According to the old regulation, if he paid the penalty while leaving the foreign country and promised to apply for a residence permit within 10 days, he could enter Turkey even one day later, or he could enter later if he wanted. In the new regulation, the answer to the question of when to enter Turkey in case of a visa violation will be given according to the section we have explained above in the form of tables and articles.

What Should a Foreigner Deported (Deported) As a Result of Visa Violation Do?

Foreigners who exceed the duration of the visa, exceed the duration of the residence permit and exceed the duration of the work permit, by violating the visa, fall into the illegal position. Foreigners who have been unjustly deported according to the characteristics of the concrete case or who have been unfairly banned from entering Turkey may object to this. However, if the transactions are not carried out according to the above-mentioned procedure, as can be seen, a serious deportation period may be encountered.

Depending on the characteristics of the concrete case, it may be possible for the foreigner to re-enter Turkey by obtaining a valid visa invitation. This can be exemplified as work, student, marriage and sickness visas. However, the type that is suitable for the conditions of the situation should be selected. Otherwise, we often see rejections in these applications. Procedures differ depending on the type of application.

You can read detailed information about this in our article “deport decision removal”.

Imposing a Restriction Code on Foreigners with Visa Violation

We see that codes such as Ç114, G87, Ç141 are set for the deported foreigners. Some codes are informative, while others are limiting. Therefore, even if a foreigner with a restrictive code decision does all of the above, he cannot enter Turkey unless the code decision is lifted by a court decision.

For this reason, it would be healthier to check what kind of code is set for the foreigner through a lawyer before the above actions are taken. In this regard, we first check the code and determine the roadmap accordingly.

You can read our foreign restriction codes article about the restriction code.

Considerations Regarding Visa Violation Penalty

Above, we talked about fines and ban on entry to Turkey as penalties for visa violations. As you can see, there are different outcomes with different possibilities. The process must be carried out quickly and effectively on a healthy legal basis. For this reason, it will always be healthier to get information by asking a lawyer about both the deportation, the ban on entry to Turkey and other issues. You can contact us to get more detaıls about visa violation.